The field of the invention involves dispensers for sheet material. Specifically, the invention relates to a wall mountable dispenser for rolls of flexible sheet material, such as rolls of paper toweling. Particularly, this invention relates to these dispensers wherein a cutter mechanism is associated with a feed roller used in guiding a web from the roll of material out of the dispenser.
Dispensers for flexible sheet material, such as paper toweling, have long been known which include mechanisms for perforating or severing a web of such material to divide it into individual sheets that are provided by the dispenser to the user. Frequently, the perforating or severing mechanisms used in these dispensers include a rotatably mounted knife and a corporating rotatably mounted roller having a slot therein for receiving the radially outward cutting edge of the knife as the knife rotates past this roller. The web of flexible sheet material is passed between the roller and the knife to be perforated or severed when the radially outward knife portion enters the slot in the roller.
Cutter mechanisms for sheet material dispensers are also known in the prior art wherein a feed roller has mounted therewithin a cutting knife which is cammed outwardly of the roller periphery to sever a web of sheet material coming from a roll of such material.
Characteristic of most prior art sheet material dispensers is the feature of guiding a web of material from a roll to a position outside of the dispenser were it is to be grasped by the user for removal from the dispenser. To insure reliable continued availability of the sheet material to the user, these prior art dispensers are frequently provided with a manually engagable handwheel that is accessible to the user exteriorally of the dispenser housing. To insure against inadvertent reverse rotation of the handwheel by the user, the prior art has proposed inclusion of mechanisms within the dispenser to prevent this reverse rotation which, if it occurred, could result in the web of material from the roll becoming disengaged from the feeding mechanism within the dispenser and thus prevent further effective dispensing of sheet material to subsequent users.
Obviously when the roll or rolls of sheet material mounted within the dispenser for dispensing to the user are exhausted, the dispenser must be reloaded with fresh sheet material rolls. Generally, this involves removing or opening a housing cover for insertion of the fresh sheet material rolls. In this open condition of the dispenser, the attendant involved in reloading the dispenser can be exposed to the cutter mechanism that is provided within the dispenser to perform dividing the web of material into individual sheets that are thereupon supplied to the user. Such exposure is particularly true in connection with roll material reloading where the initial web length must be threaded through the dispenser to a point where it can be grasped by the user. Generally, this threading operation will involve passing the web of material over the feed roller which is associated with the cutting knife of the cutter mechanism. Thus, the attendant loading the dispenser becomes exposed to the knife cutting edge and possible consequent injury to the attendant's hands or arms incident threading the web of material from the fresh roll to a point where its end is exposed for dispensing outside of the dispenser.
With the foregoing in mind, it is an important object of the present invention to provide a flexible sheet material dispenser with a cutter mechanism having a manually engagable handwheel accessible to the user exteriorally of the dispenser wherein the cutter mechanism is moved to a protected location within the dispenser when the handwheel is released for added safety in connection with the operation of reloading the dispenser with fresh rolls of sheet material.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a dispenser having a cutting mechanism for rolled sheet material with a specifically formed manually engagable handwheel cooperating with an anti-reversing device which functions to permit return of the cutting mechanism to a protected location by the action of biasing means that urges certain movements of such handwheel.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a flexible sheet material dispenser having a cutting mechanism associated with a feed roller that is provided with a manually engagable handwheel wherein anti-reversing means and biasing means cooperate to return the cutting mechanism to a protected location within the dispenser when the handwheel is free from manual restraint.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a flexible sheet material dispenser having a handwheel wherein the handwheel periphery is provided with finger engagable notches of differing configurations in separate circumferential portions thereof such that the combined operation of anti-reversing means and biasing means assures cutter mechanism movement to a protected location within the dispenser when the handwheel is in a released state.
These and other object of the invention will become apparent upon consideration of the detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention given in connection with the following drawings.